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Jurassic Park 3 (2001)
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Genre: |
Sci-Fi/Adventure |
Director: |
Joe Johnston
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Rating: |
PG-13 |
Running Time: |
92 Minutes |
Release Date: |
July 18, 2001 |
Official Website: |
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Movie Trailer: |
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Discuss and vote: |
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Cast: |
Sam Neill
William H. Macy
Téa Leoni
Alessandro Nivola
Trevor Morgan
Michael Jeter
John Diehl
Laura Dern
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Pickup Line: They're Baaaaack!
Quickie: Dr. Alan Grant finds himself amongst angry dinosaurs once again when he inadvertently joins a rescue mission on dino-infested Isla Sorna.
The Long Review:
We didn't quite know what to expect from "Jurassic Park 3". After all, have you read or heard what people have been saying about this flick?! Some people out there (except us, of course) can be nothing short of brutal. Are we going to join the hordes of people who have beaten and bashed this Dino movie? Nuh-uh. Why? Well, because we didn't find it that bad. This time around, the infamous Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) finds himself in Isla Sorna, supposedly as a guide for a filthy rich couple, Paul and Amanda Kirby (Wiliam H. Macy and Téa Leoni), who have nothing better to do with their money than spend it on life-threatening adventures. Their adventure for the week is to go to the dinosaur-inhabited Isla Sorna. And who better to lead them through the treacherous terrain than THE Alan Grant? And just how do they get the now anti-live dinosaur Grant to accompany them? By waving an incredible amount of money in his face. Grant, desperate for funding for his research, and nudged by his eager assistant, Billy (Alessandro Nivola) reluctantly agrees. Well, it turns out Dr. Grant ends up in Isla Sorna for a completely different purpose: to help rescue the Kirbys' son, who is stranded on the godforsaken island. By the way, the Kirbys are far from being filthy rich, after all…so basically, there is no money for Dr. Grant. He risks life and limb once again and hangs out with the dinosaurs for free. What a deal!
"Jurassic Park" is suspenseful enough to have us jumping in our seats at regular intervals. It also boasts of some decent special effects. And we kinda like the fact the story centres around a rescue mission. It adds a little more spice and drama to the recipe. However, the movie lacks character development when there is so much opportunity to play with the characters. With the exception of Alan Grant, whom we already know by heart by now, the rest of the characters come across as one-dimensional, whose only purpose, save from rescuing the stranded boy, is to scream and run from the angry dinosaurs. Another complaint we have is that there isn't any prelude at all as to the why and the how of the dinosaurs on that island. A little background information would have been nice. We guess the lack of character development and background information account for the abbreviated length of this movie…it's only about an hour and a half. Sigh…it was more than enough to make us miss good ol' Spielberg.
But Roger Ebert didn't miss him that much. Check out what he has to say about the latest addition to the "Jurassic Park" collection: "I am aware that 'Jurassic Park 3' is shorter, cheaper and with fewer pretensions than its predecessors, and yet there was nothing I disliked about it, and a lot of admire in its lean, efficient story telling. I can't praise it for its art, but I must not neglect its craft, and on that basis I recommend it." There you go. The man has spoken. Go see it for yourself.
In Two Minutes:
Did you know?
- 'Wondering why Steven Spielberg didn't take the director's chair on this latest installment of "Jurassic Park"? Apparenlty, Spielberg found something more interesting than dinosaurs to direct, namely Tom Cruise. The duo are busy filming "Minority Report".
- Joe Johnston, director of "Jurassic Park 3", was the visual effects supervisor for George Lucas on all three "Star Wars" films. He also directed "Jumanji". 'Guess that makes him qualified.
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